and what the supply of candidates looks like, it must now decide the best methods for recruitment.

Recruiting is a more complex activity than most managers believe. Recruitment efforts

should make sense in terms of the company's strategic plans. It is also important to understand

that some recruiting methods are superior to others, depending on who you are recruiting

and what your resources are.

The success you have with your recruiting actually depends on a number of factors. Some

external factors affecting recruiting are the looming undersupply of workers and increasingly

fewer "qualified" candidates, meaning that many organizations today are looking for highly

trained employees and the number of people qualified is getting smaller and smaller.

Also there are some internal factors affecting recruiting. One is the consistency of the

firm's recruitment efforts with its strategic goals. For example, if the firm's goal was

to open a new manufacturing plant which will require over 500 new employees, then the recruitment

methods chosen need to generate a large number of applicants. Also, lower-level jobs are

easier to fill because the number of qualifications needed are fewer and therefore can probably

be filled by someone local, but for more highly skilled jobs an organization may need to look

nationally or even internationally to find the right candidate.

Some additional internal recruitment issues are available resources and choice of recruiting

methods. For example, not all organizations have an unlimited recruitment budget so cost

is a concern. There are many avenues organizations can take to find qualified candidates both

inside and outside of the organization. Be sure to read about the different options and

the advantages and disadvantages of each in your textbook.

With many challenges to effective recruiting, companies are turning to previously untapped

talent pools. The first group more organizations are trying to attract is single parents. Formulating

an intelligent program for attracting single parents should begin with understanding the

considerable problems they often encounter in balancing work and family life.

The next group is older workers. Many employers are encouraging retirement-age employees not

to leave, or are actively recruiting employees who are at or beyond retirement age by making

their companies more appealing.

There are also more minorities and women entering the workforce than ever before and attracting

this group requires employers to understand the recruitment barriers that can hinder these

groups. For example, many minorities do not meet the minimum job qualifications and may

need some additional training. However, this added investment on the front-end can payoff

for the organization in creating extremely hard working and loyal employees.

Another option for organizations is the Welfare-to-Work Program which allows organizations to apply

for federal grants to develop training programs for welfare recipients. The Federal Personal

Responsibility and Welfare Reconciliation Act of 1996 prompted many employers to implement

programs to aid in bringing people off of welfare.

Lastly, disabled individuals can bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to organizations

in many cases with only minor accommodations. Employers can do several things to tap into

this huge potential workforce. The Department of Labor offers several programs, and all

states have local agencies that provide placement services and other recruitment and training

tools.

All of these groups can be great sources to draw potential applicants from and many organizations

are taking advantage of this opportunity.

Over the course of this video we have discussed some of the main techniques organizations

use to plan for and recruit qualified candidates. It is now time to apply what you have learned.